Postwar Iraq, Transatlantic Rift on Tap for German Defense Minister in Washington

Germany’s Defense Minister traveled to Washington on Monday for a NATO conference, the first time a member of Gerhard Schröder’s cabinet has set foot on American soil since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Peter Struck’s trip marks the beginning of what is to become a flurry of diplomatic activity on the transatlantic front to sort out international participation in the security of Iraq. Two other foreign policy experts, from the German foreign ministry and chancellery, are also currently in Washington.

The United States and Britain, who together sent more than 300,000 soldiers to war, now want other nations to pick up security duties as they reduce their presence in Iraq.

Denmark and Poland have already committed soldiers to a planned security force, which so far is without a UN or NATO mandate. Germany might be asked to as well. Struck has, until now, refused to comment on possible German involvement in a postwar stabilization force in Iraq. His boss, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, has joined other European leaders in insisting the United Nations must play a strong role in postwar Iraq.

Schröder and U.S. President George W. Bush have not spoken since Schröder’s phone call to the White House shortly after his election victory last November. The Chancellor’s vehement anti-war stance angered Washington officials, who felt betrayed by one of their historical allies.

Defense summit aftermath

The Washington meeting is scheduled to focus on the Ukraine’s alliance with NATO member nations, but a possible topic will also likely be a recent meeting between four EU nations on setting up a European defense force. The mini-summit between Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Germany last week was heavily criticized by other European nations including Great Britain and Spain, which fear it could weaken NATO.

The four, all against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, restated at the mini-summit an already agreed-upon European pledge to set up a strong European rapid reaction force. A Belgian proposal to set up a separate European command headquarters in Brussels, independent of NATO, was greeted cooly by France and Germany, who didn’t want to anger pro-NATO Washington any further.

In a chat with reporters on Sunday before his U.S. trip, Struck said he would assure his counterpart, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, that the summit’s goal was nothing more than to “build-up and strengthen the European arrows in NATO.”

Friendly chat with Rumsfeld

After meeting with Rumsfeld Monday afternoon, Struck said the two talked in a "friendly atmosphere." He remained tight-lipped about details of the discussion, saying only that there were no "concrete requests" from the United States on Germany's possible security role in postwar Iraq.

Rumsfeld and Struck have had an up-and-down relationship since Struck took over the minister’s post in August 2002. At Struck’s first international meeting, a NATO Summit in Prague in September, Rumsfeld pointedly refused contact with his German counterpart, referring to him as “that man.”

Two months later, with Struck in Washington, the two were on better terms. Joking with reporters at a joint press conference, Rumsfeld declared ties between Germany and the U.S. as “unpoisoned.” Struck heralded “a new beginning in cooperation.”

In January, as the diplomatic fight to head off war in Iraq split the U.S. with traditional allies France and Germany, Rumsfeld gruffly dismissed the two anti-war nations as “old Europe.” A few weeks later, when asked in a Congressional hearing who refused to provide any aid to a U.S. invasion of Iraq, Rumsfeld replied: “Libya, Cuba, Germany:” The comments caused a stir in Germany.

Struck waxes optimistic

Following the coalition forces’ quick victory in Iraq, Struck said he was optimistic the U.S.-German relationship would return to normal. Should he get a meeting with Rumsfeld, he said

”I think we would take care of that in five minutes,” he said. “We will say we had a fight over Iraq, let’s forget it and return to normal.”